Haunted Heads

crazygreenthumbs

Oct 5

I had two main projects I wanted to accomplish this Halloween. One project was my Silver Faceless Aliens and the second was some posts with masks, or: Haunted Heads! I decided to do these after I saw a pin. But unfortunately, no matter which pin I opened I couldn't find the instructions to make these. So, this is how I made mine:

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Things you need:

Glue gun and glue sticks

Serated knife

Pipe cutter

PVC pipe (1/2 inch)

Pipe elbows (1/2 inch)

Mask (I got mine, new, at goodwill.)

Bucket (These are from my local dollar store.)

I put white duct tape on the outside to make stripes

One of the following (per Haunted Head):
Styrofoam ball (on-line), styrofoam head (hobby stores) or a DIY head shape out of plastic bags inside a black trash bag (taped at the neck with the pole slid through the opening.)

Colored duct tape (I used "duck tape" brand, which is the cheaper craft version, in white and red.)

Sand and a large rock (or concrete) to weight the bucket. I chose a rock and sand because: it will make it easier to store this if I can take the weight and bucket off. I have a lot of Halloween projects to store, so I try and keep the amount of space I have in mind as I'm building things.

Optional: drill and drill bit, to put drainage holes in the bucket.

First thing's first: 1/2 inch PVC pipe is sold in 10 foot sections in the plumbing department of building supply stores. You will need a pipe cutter for this. You can use a saw but a scissor action pipe cutter is so worth the investment! They sell circular pressure pipe cutters too. I prefer the scissor ones, they're fast! I cut my posts about chest height (the height of most trick-or-treaters!)

Next attach your elbows to the base you just cut. Make sure your base will fit in the bucket! Make adjustments until they do. The first one is just elbows and short pipe pieces. The second one I did was a 3 opening tee with two elbows at the end.

I tried a couple of configurations. (I liked the 3 opening tee and two elbows in the picture below, better in the end.)

I prefer this base.

Cut the styrofoam so it will take the top of the pipe up into it.

Drip hot glue into the hole and place the ball onto the pipe. Then, drip hot glue over the top of the head and carefully place the mask on the ball. Try and get this straight and where you like it before the glue hardens. If you skip this step, since this mask is much heavier in the area with the latex face, it would just slide down and look like it was looking at the ground.

Next cut and place alternating strips of white and your second color on the pipe, I used red. From the head, down below where the pipe will sit in the bucket, with the tape seam in the back. I used white because the poles come with writing on them. You can't get it off with nail polish remover, but it will come off with MEK. I don't have any MEK right now so I just covered the writing all the way down. The good thing about the tape is the stripes are completely even on the pole. If I'd just used red, I think it would have been slightly less cool because it would be less even (or I'd have had to concentrate a whole lot more!), and I needed the white tape for the bucket anyway.

Place haunted head's base in bucket. Put one to two large rocks inside to steady the base and then add sand or cement. All done! One haunted head!

Your base needs to weigh a lot more than the head or it will tip over in the wind. If you are having trouble with your project tipping, try and put more weight in the bucket. You could always drill a hole in the bottom and run rebar through it and set the pole on the rebar. You could skip the bucket entirely that way, but I liked the bucket enough to keep it like this. If you use sand, and don't drill a couple of small holes in the bottom of the bucket and it rains, it will end up a mess. But that's still an option. You can always leave it full of water or tip out the water when it rains.

All of my projects are low skill projects. But some take a lot more time than others. The Haunted Heads and the Witch/Ghost CircleWitch/Ghost Circle are the fastest and cheapest of all of my Halloween tutorials. Anytime you get into a packing tape project it becomes slow going. But those are still doable if you choose to take a little extra time on them. Care in storing all of your Halloween projects is a big deal. If you throw them in a pile, you will have to do repairs or completely remake them next year. Take care of your creations and your display will get bigger each year!

Interested in more awesome, cheap Halloween ideas? Try these!

How To Make A Bagged Dead Body For Halloween

Cousin It… Oh Yeah!

Easy Packing Tape Ghost

Milk Jug Spider

Last Minute Kid Friendly Halloween Craft Ideas

Witch Circle/Ghost Ring

Silver Faceless Aliens

Let me know if you try these, and as always: if you post about your own Haunted Heads, remember to link back to where you got your instructions! Happy Halloween!